BBC makes ‘largest ever’ deal to take control of UKTV

The BBC has announced a £173 million takeover of UKTV channels from Discovery as part of the “largest ever” deal in the broadcaster’s history.

The Dave and Gold provider, which is jointly owned by Discovery and the BBC’s commercial arm BBC Studios, will be divided up between the US and UK broadcasters, with BBC Studios retaining the UKTV brand.

BBC Studios will pay Discovery £173 million in the takeover deal, which will see seven channels come under BBC Studios control.

Discovery will take Good Food, Home and Really under its brand, while BBC Studios will gain Alibi, Dave, Drama, Eden, Gold, Yesterday and W.

Discovery has also agreed a new 10-year deal to air BBC Studios’ flagship natural history shows, including Planet Earth and Blue Planet, outside the UK and Ireland.

Landmark series including Blue Planet will be distributed by Discovery outside the UK and Ireland (Rachel Butler/BBC/PA)

As part of the UKTV deal, BBC Studios will take on £70 million of debt from Discovery and give them around £10 million more from the splitting of the company’s current balance sheet.

Discovery will launch a new video-on-demand subscription service (SVOD) with rights to use BBC Studios’ natural history content, including landmark David Attenborough series.

David Zaslav, president and chief executive of Discovery, said: “Discovery will be taking that expertise and creating the definitive global streaming product for curious and passionate viewers of all generations who want the most trusted, family-friendly storytelling in the world.

“The new platform will be the first global direct-to-consumer service with the category’s most iconic IP including the Planet Earth series, future sequels and spin-offs to all existing landmark series.”

UKTV was founded by BBC Studios and Thames Television in 1992. BBC Studios and Discovery had maintained joint ownership of the broadcaster.